Living with COPD

Living with COPD gets harder and harder as the disease progresses. This means that at some point you have to accept your limitations – because if you don’t you will end up in the hospital, or dead.

When I was first diagnosed, I was in denial and tried to stop taking the medications they put me on. Then I found that without the medications, I couldn’t breathe very well.

For a while, I had allergy treatments, and those did not seem to make a lot of difference to my situation. In an attempt to get me off of prednisone, they tried a drug called Xolair. This proved disastrous both times it was attempted: I ended up in the hospital. I will not try that one again.

Five years ago, before my diagnosis, I had never heard of Prednisone and had no idea what terrible things this drug does to your body. Without it, I would not be able to breathe well enough to function. Taking it means I have to accept unnatural hunger and water retention among other side effects. At really high doses it can make me downright psychotic – but doses that high are generally reserved for hospital admissions. It’s a tough choice: side effects and breathing or no Prednisone and wheezing like there’s a symphony tuning up in my lungs… but I have to choose being able to breathe.

So far my oxygen levels have stayed high enough that I have not been prescribed supplemental oxygen. Some days I really feel like I could use a little oxygen, though, so I’ve been looking into purchasing some athletic oxygen. This is the brand that I’ve been considering:

Do you have COPD? Have you ever used athletic oxygen for a boost? Please tell me about it in the comments below!